I HAVE A NEW LAPTOP COMPUTER!!! And I'm really excited about it! I can just picture myself carrying it into a coffee place and setting it up and blogging while I'm drinking coffee - WOW - How fun will this be???
One of the MAIN reasons we got one is because our desk computer is old - I mean REALLY old! It's hung in there for many, many years and of course is completely outdated but it still runs just fine - but I knew that sooner or later we would have to get a new one and that's when the thought of a laptop came to mind!
I just didn't think that we could use a laptop at the house because of our internet connections - living out in the country with mountains all around makes it a little challenging for these types of things but we DO have DSL and are extremely happy with it! But I wanted to be able to use the laptop in the lower level where it is nice and cozy warm and where the TV is!! And of course we have no internet connection downstairs - but a phone call to my super hero Robby confirmed that all I needed was a router to be able to use the laptop downstairs! So the last time he was here, he got it all hooked up and was just waiting for a great deal on a laptop for me - and it came - and he ordered me one - and it's arrived and I'm totally thrilled with it!!
I hooked into Jaime and Brad's internet this weekend so I could check it out and was excited to get home last night and try it at our house - but it wasn't to be - although the signal strength is excellent, there's some type of problem with the password (could it be that I've forgotten what Robby set the password at??) and I couldn't reach Robby last night to figure it out!
But we'll get it up and going tonight - and I'll be sitting in the warm family room, blogging away on my new laptop! And next on the list? A carrying case so we can take it on vacation if we so choose!! Glenn is totally excited about watching a movie on the laptop when we fly! Thanks for all your help Robby -(and expect a phone call from me tonight!!)
Monday, January 18, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Decisions, Decisions..........
Sometimes I have a very hard time making a decision! I think it's because I'm scared of making the WRONG one! And believe me, I've made PLENTY of bad decisons in my lifetime! The only redeeming factor is that you certainly don't make that mistake TWICE!
I'm wrestling with a simple, fun decision right now - whether or now to buy a Wii!! I have the money - courtesy of a bonus from my boss at Christmas! And I always feel that a bonus should be used for something special that "you" want, not just thrown in the checking account to pay for groceries!
But for some reason, I can't bring myself to buy one because of one thing: Will I actually use it??
Yes, Glenn and I both enjoyed playing it at Jaime's and Jessi's house (and if I recall, we actually played it YEARS ago before it was so popular at Teri and Jay's house!!) But what if I buy it (and I would buy the Wii and the Wii Fitness also) and it just sits there in the family room and we never use it? That's what I'm afraid of ..........
Glenn and I are gone so much on weekends that our week nights are usually spent working - getting our weekly chores done along with Glenn many times working out in the shop on a granite job. So by the time that we finally DO sit down, it's usually at least 8:00 or later and by that time, we're tired and only have the energy to watch TV. So would we really get much use out of it??
The flip side of the coin is that if I don't buy a Wii, what would I spend it on? I'm not in want or need of anything right now - but I do know that my next big purchase will probably be a new camera - so maybe I should save the money and eventually put more with it and purchase a new camera - see what I mean???? Decisions, decisions...............
I'm wrestling with a simple, fun decision right now - whether or now to buy a Wii!! I have the money - courtesy of a bonus from my boss at Christmas! And I always feel that a bonus should be used for something special that "you" want, not just thrown in the checking account to pay for groceries!
But for some reason, I can't bring myself to buy one because of one thing: Will I actually use it??
Yes, Glenn and I both enjoyed playing it at Jaime's and Jessi's house (and if I recall, we actually played it YEARS ago before it was so popular at Teri and Jay's house!!) But what if I buy it (and I would buy the Wii and the Wii Fitness also) and it just sits there in the family room and we never use it? That's what I'm afraid of ..........
Glenn and I are gone so much on weekends that our week nights are usually spent working - getting our weekly chores done along with Glenn many times working out in the shop on a granite job. So by the time that we finally DO sit down, it's usually at least 8:00 or later and by that time, we're tired and only have the energy to watch TV. So would we really get much use out of it??
The flip side of the coin is that if I don't buy a Wii, what would I spend it on? I'm not in want or need of anything right now - but I do know that my next big purchase will probably be a new camera - so maybe I should save the money and eventually put more with it and purchase a new camera - see what I mean???? Decisions, decisions...............
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
My First New Recipe of the Year!
My niece Amanda suggested I share the rib recipe I did for Sunday night and review it!! Sounds like a great idea to me so here goes:
Secrets In The Sauce
4 1/2# ribs
1 1/2 t. pepper
2 1/2 cups BBQ sauce
3/4 cup cherry preserves
1 T. Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove - minced
Put the ribs in a large crockpot - mix the rest and pour over - cook on low for 6 to 8 hours
This recipe is SUPER EASY and the ribs are FANTASTIC!! When my friend first served the ribs, she used baby back ribs - now those aren't usually in my budget so I just used pork country ribs - I have no idea how many pounds the big package was - all I know is that there were 9 ribs that I put in the crockpot!
For the BBQ sauce, if you can find it, use Sweet Baby Ray's, which I can only find in my town in Walmart - and it's cheap!! Also I just bought a cheap bottle of the cherry preserves (which is in the jelly section) and stuck the remainder in the frig for the next batch!
I also didn't use a garlic clove, but the fresh kind that comes in a jar - I put about 2 t. in because we love garlic! The only difference I noticed between the baby back and the country ribs, is that the country ribs have more fat on them, therefore there is quite a bit of juice that accumulates during the cooking - I actually took the lid off the crockpot for the last hour so some of it would evaporate! Because of the ease of making this and the great taste, I give it 5 stars!!
Secrets In The Sauce
4 1/2# ribs
1 1/2 t. pepper
2 1/2 cups BBQ sauce
3/4 cup cherry preserves
1 T. Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove - minced
Put the ribs in a large crockpot - mix the rest and pour over - cook on low for 6 to 8 hours
This recipe is SUPER EASY and the ribs are FANTASTIC!! When my friend first served the ribs, she used baby back ribs - now those aren't usually in my budget so I just used pork country ribs - I have no idea how many pounds the big package was - all I know is that there were 9 ribs that I put in the crockpot!
For the BBQ sauce, if you can find it, use Sweet Baby Ray's, which I can only find in my town in Walmart - and it's cheap!! Also I just bought a cheap bottle of the cherry preserves (which is in the jelly section) and stuck the remainder in the frig for the next batch!
I also didn't use a garlic clove, but the fresh kind that comes in a jar - I put about 2 t. in because we love garlic! The only difference I noticed between the baby back and the country ribs, is that the country ribs have more fat on them, therefore there is quite a bit of juice that accumulates during the cooking - I actually took the lid off the crockpot for the last hour so some of it would evaporate! Because of the ease of making this and the great taste, I give it 5 stars!!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Play Dough Fun!
When it's too cold to play outside, just bring out the play dough!! Jaime, Brad, Rayna and Kylan were down for the weekend - we were excited to have Brad come as it had been a long time since he'd been down to our place!
Rayna was really hoping to go sledding - yes, we still have snow but it all seems to have a layer of ice on top of it!! She decided to go anyway - down the sidehill instead of where we sledded before! Wow did she go fast - so fast that Jaime and I were having heart attacks on the deck while watching her, thinking she was going to fly over the edge and land on the road! Luckily she's old enough to stop the sled with her boots..............
I had ordered scrapbooking supplies for Jaime to use when she does our Disneyworld trip and there were lots of little pieces to cut out - so Jaime and I attacked the pile with our scissors while the kids played with play dough! We had gotten Kylan a hamburger making kit that you use with play dough and it looked like so much fun, that I just had to dig in and help!
We made hamburgers with pickles, lettuce and onion along with the cutest, stringiest french fries I've ever seen!! What fun to be a kid again!
Unfortunately, Jaime wasn't feeling well most of the weekend....... let's just hope she didn't pass her bug along to me!!
Rayna was really hoping to go sledding - yes, we still have snow but it all seems to have a layer of ice on top of it!! She decided to go anyway - down the sidehill instead of where we sledded before! Wow did she go fast - so fast that Jaime and I were having heart attacks on the deck while watching her, thinking she was going to fly over the edge and land on the road! Luckily she's old enough to stop the sled with her boots..............
I had ordered scrapbooking supplies for Jaime to use when she does our Disneyworld trip and there were lots of little pieces to cut out - so Jaime and I attacked the pile with our scissors while the kids played with play dough! We had gotten Kylan a hamburger making kit that you use with play dough and it looked like so much fun, that I just had to dig in and help!
We made hamburgers with pickles, lettuce and onion along with the cutest, stringiest french fries I've ever seen!! What fun to be a kid again!
Unfortunately, Jaime wasn't feeling well most of the weekend....... let's just hope she didn't pass her bug along to me!!
Sunday the guys went ice fishing for the day while we took the kids to see "The Chipmunks" in Woodland Park - cute movie - of course the best part is the popcorn!
I talked to Jessi on the phone on Sunday and told her I had no idea what new recipe I was going to try for this week - and then after I hung up, realized it WAS Sunday so the new rib recipe I already had in the crockpot would count for this week!! ALL RIGHT!!
Poor Jaime didn't get to taste the ribs but they were fantastic!! (The secrets in the sauce!!) And who knows, I may just dig through my file and make ANOTHER new dish this week!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
I'm Looking Forward In This New Year To.......
1) Having a great scrapbooking weekend with Jaime at the Embassy Suites
2) Enjoying 5 days and 4 nights in Cozumel with my siblings and their spouses
3) Buying an ATV so we can enjoy the backroad trails of Colorado
4) Celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary in March!!
5) Taking all 5 grandkids (and their moms) to the zoo this summer
6) Getting completely caught up on my scrapbooking
7) Finishing up the rock on the outside of the house
8) Going to the Sand Dunes (this has been on my list of things to do since we moved to Colorado)
9) Enjoying good health
10) A cruise to Alaska to celebrate our 25th anniversary (but NOT in March of course!)
11) Spending weekends with all of the grandkids
12) Playing more games (cribbage, pool, darts, bananagrams) instead of spending so much time in front of the TV
13) Trying one new recipe a week for the entire year (tonight's new recipe, courtesy of Jessi)
14) Enjoying our 3 day weekend in a cabin by Lake City - and taking our new ATV out!
15) Attending church more often - whether it's our old church or the new one we've tried out
16) Having a family picture taken - something we always forget to do when we're all together
17) Getting the wood stove situation figured out so the house doesn't always smell like smoke
18) Spending more time on our front deck - relaxing - drinking good coffee - reading a book
19) Re-reading and applying "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff"
20) Visiting one of my long-time friends for a weekend
2) Enjoying 5 days and 4 nights in Cozumel with my siblings and their spouses
3) Buying an ATV so we can enjoy the backroad trails of Colorado
4) Celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary in March!!
5) Taking all 5 grandkids (and their moms) to the zoo this summer
6) Getting completely caught up on my scrapbooking
7) Finishing up the rock on the outside of the house
8) Going to the Sand Dunes (this has been on my list of things to do since we moved to Colorado)
9) Enjoying good health
10) A cruise to Alaska to celebrate our 25th anniversary (but NOT in March of course!)
11) Spending weekends with all of the grandkids
12) Playing more games (cribbage, pool, darts, bananagrams) instead of spending so much time in front of the TV
13) Trying one new recipe a week for the entire year (tonight's new recipe, courtesy of Jessi)
14) Enjoying our 3 day weekend in a cabin by Lake City - and taking our new ATV out!
15) Attending church more often - whether it's our old church or the new one we've tried out
16) Having a family picture taken - something we always forget to do when we're all together
17) Getting the wood stove situation figured out so the house doesn't always smell like smoke
18) Spending more time on our front deck - relaxing - drinking good coffee - reading a book
19) Re-reading and applying "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff"
20) Visiting one of my long-time friends for a weekend
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
3 1/2 Day Weekends - Gone But Not Forgotten!
Wasn't it fun to have Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve fall on a Thursday so we all got long weekends? I actually think ( although most people probably wouldn't agree with me) that it would be easier on everyone if we kept this schedule forever!! But then Christmas wouldn't always be celebrated on the 25th and it would be a little silly to celebrate New Year's Eve on the 2nd or 3rd of January, if that's when it fell for a weekend! Oh well...........it was just a thought!
My New Year's Day is typically spent cleaning out the desk and the filing cabinet to get ready for the next year! But I actually spent New Year's Day undecorating the house and redecorating it - an all day affair I might add! But it's always nice to get the house back to "normal". Don't think I didn't get the office done though because I spent over 1/2 a day on Sunday doing that too! The paperwork I throw away from the year is amazing!
Saturday we spent most of the day in Colorado Springs so we DID get a little R and R! We saw the movie "2012" and I loved it - I've always enjoyed disaster movies and the special effects in this one were fantastic! After lunch at Red Robin (the best hamburgers around) we went to Sears and I spent some of my bonus money I received from my boss at Christmas - I purchased a new RED coffeepot and a RED toaster! Mind you, our coffeepot was bought at a flea market and our old toaster was probably a $10 item from Walmart on some Christmas special, many years ago! So we were due for some new appliances!! When I saw my friend's new RED ones, I decided to go that route too and they really brighten up the kitchen!!!
On another note, I have not made any New Year's Resolutions - I'm just doing a list of "Things To Look Forward To In 2010" which hopefully I will get blogged soon..........
My New Year's Day is typically spent cleaning out the desk and the filing cabinet to get ready for the next year! But I actually spent New Year's Day undecorating the house and redecorating it - an all day affair I might add! But it's always nice to get the house back to "normal". Don't think I didn't get the office done though because I spent over 1/2 a day on Sunday doing that too! The paperwork I throw away from the year is amazing!
Saturday we spent most of the day in Colorado Springs so we DID get a little R and R! We saw the movie "2012" and I loved it - I've always enjoyed disaster movies and the special effects in this one were fantastic! After lunch at Red Robin (the best hamburgers around) we went to Sears and I spent some of my bonus money I received from my boss at Christmas - I purchased a new RED coffeepot and a RED toaster! Mind you, our coffeepot was bought at a flea market and our old toaster was probably a $10 item from Walmart on some Christmas special, many years ago! So we were due for some new appliances!! When I saw my friend's new RED ones, I decided to go that route too and they really brighten up the kitchen!!!
On another note, I have not made any New Year's Resolutions - I'm just doing a list of "Things To Look Forward To In 2010" which hopefully I will get blogged soon..........
Friday, January 1, 2010
1/1/2010
My it seems strange writing 2010 - I'm not sure why it seems so different than 2009 but to me it does!
HAPPY NEW YEAR! We had a great time on New Year's Eve with friends Joleen and Martin joining us for dinner! After a rousing game of Cranium, it was downstairs for some competitive pool playing (I lost, I always do!) and THEN some chocolate fondue! I have the BEST recipe for the chocolate - it's just downright decadent!! I just can't decide what I enjoy dipping the most - strawberries, bananas, marshmellows or brownie bits! It's ALL good!
Having the full moon out last night was AWESOME - we have a lot of snow around so the moon really reflected off of it to make for a perfect "look out the window" scene! But the best part was watching the fireworks off of Pikes Peak - WOW - we had a birds eye view just looking out of our windows at the Peak!
For those of you that don't know the story of the fireworks on the peak, each year the AdAmAn Club hikes up Pikes Peak - they leave on Dec. 30th and spend the first night at Barr Trail , elevation 12,000 - and on Dec. 31st, they hike up the rest of the way to the summit which is 14,100 feet elevation! At the stroke of midnight, they light off an impressive array of fireworks which on a clear night, can be seen for hundreds of miles along the front range! This club was founded in 1922 with 5 members and each year they decided to add one man, hence, the ad a man name! Every year (they've never missed one yet) about 30 hikers hike up to the summit -sometimes in extremely snowy and cold weather -and the wind chill can be 50 below at the top if it's windy out! Neat tradition, huh??
So another memorable New Year's Eve - and the start of a brand new year!
HAPPY NEW YEAR! We had a great time on New Year's Eve with friends Joleen and Martin joining us for dinner! After a rousing game of Cranium, it was downstairs for some competitive pool playing (I lost, I always do!) and THEN some chocolate fondue! I have the BEST recipe for the chocolate - it's just downright decadent!! I just can't decide what I enjoy dipping the most - strawberries, bananas, marshmellows or brownie bits! It's ALL good!
Having the full moon out last night was AWESOME - we have a lot of snow around so the moon really reflected off of it to make for a perfect "look out the window" scene! But the best part was watching the fireworks off of Pikes Peak - WOW - we had a birds eye view just looking out of our windows at the Peak!
For those of you that don't know the story of the fireworks on the peak, each year the AdAmAn Club hikes up Pikes Peak - they leave on Dec. 30th and spend the first night at Barr Trail , elevation 12,000 - and on Dec. 31st, they hike up the rest of the way to the summit which is 14,100 feet elevation! At the stroke of midnight, they light off an impressive array of fireworks which on a clear night, can be seen for hundreds of miles along the front range! This club was founded in 1922 with 5 members and each year they decided to add one man, hence, the ad a man name! Every year (they've never missed one yet) about 30 hikers hike up to the summit -sometimes in extremely snowy and cold weather -and the wind chill can be 50 below at the top if it's windy out! Neat tradition, huh??
So another memorable New Year's Eve - and the start of a brand new year!
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